Megadeth:
Megadeth played a rip-roaring set last night at Gulf Bike Week 2012 exceeding all expectations and making the Megadeth fans of Dubai very, very happy. From the opening of Trust to the closing bars of Peace Sells there was sweat, there was headbanging and there were devil horns a-plenty. Despite the heat and the small, but fervent crowd Megadeth gave the show their all, thrashing out riff after riff and keeping the crowd yelling for more, and more. Highlights included my personal favourites ‘Public Enemy No.1’, (the music video played on the big screens looked awesome), ‘Symphony of Destruction’, and ‘Countdown to Extinction’. It was fantastic to see this band hit Dubai again. For some audience members, this was their first ever concert and they loved the energy and enthusiasm of the crowd and of the band.
However, as with all gigs there were some low points, these included some concert-goers at the front not understanding the concept of a mosh-pit and throwing punches at those who were moshing (if you don’t like the heat get out of the kitchen guys). The security being a little hardcore (however, this is a complaint at every gig here. They are told to watch for violence and stop it, and they misinterpret moshing as violence). Those in the General Admission area were complaining that they could not hear Mustaine’s voice or Broderick’s solos. However the sound in the Rock Zone and VIP areas was great.
On a final note yes, the crowd was abysmal for a band of this calibre, but we have come to expect a poor showing from metalheads in the region. Calls of ‘Bring back Dubai Desert Rock’ are likely to be taken as a joke when it seems we cannot get more than a few thousand metalheads to Megadeth.
1. Trust
2. Hangar 18
3. A Tout Le Monde
4. Whose Life (Is It Anyways?)
5. Public Enemy No. 1
6. Skin o’ My Teeth
7. Symphony of Destruction
8. Architecture of Aggression
9. Foreclosure of a Dream
10. Sweating Bullets
11. This Was My Life
12. Countdown to Extinction
13. High Speed Dirt
14. Psychotron
15. Ashes in Your Mouth
16. Peace Sells
Absolace:
Progressive metal/rockers Absolace played a massive set, over an hour long. As always, the band created an impressive show and showed off their impressive musicianship. Lead singer Nadim looked so comfortable on that stage that he could have been opening for Megadeth all his life. Great set by a great local band. A couple sitting next to us were heard to remark “Are these guys local? I am impressed, they are great.”
Sandwash:
Personally I love these guys, they have fantastic music and a ‘screw you’ on stage attitude, we loved their crowd interaction and lead singer Mike’s haranguing of the crowd: “Who here is a real Megadeth fan? You are? Ok so what’s the second song off Peace Sells? Hahaha you got it wrong! You aren’t a real fan.” They played a short but intense set and threw in a couple of new songs as well as their old staples. Great to see this band getting support slots in big concerts here (they opened for 30 Seconds to Mars last year).
“It was an awesome experience, the sound crew were great and we had a fairly decent set given Mike’s bronchitis and all that. Had a blast watching Megadeth and Absolace, the latter having by far the best sound of the night,” said Sandwash guitarist Pavel.
Setlist:
Eighteen
October
Paroxism
Television
Lately
I Love Dubai
Temper
Other stuff:
This Gulf Bike Week show definitely goes straight to the top of the list as one of the most professionally organized shows we have been to. The sound was excellent from all areas of the venue and certainly we heard no complaints. The food and beverage stands were located in their own area (much like at The Eagles concert at the Se7ens last year) so people could chill out away from the music and have a bite to eat or drink, we liked the separation. Nothing like trying to much your way through your dinner surrounded by jostling people as we have seen with some concerts here.
The set up was also great, with the Rock Zone ticket holders close enough to feel the sweat off Dave Mustaine’s long locks. General Admission also got a fair view of the stage as the whole area is sloped towards the stage area.
The only niggle we had was the parking, it was so far away from the show and several people complained that where the shuttle dropped them off was as far from the stage area as the parking. Although this is a matter of geography not poor planning! Overall a fantastic show that we loved.
On a side note, we took our three-month old to the show (with ear defenders) and he slept through everything except the meet and greet with Megadeth, I think he also has more pictures taken of him than Megadeth did. Metalheads in Dubai are surprisingly into babies!
And finally: We heard a lot of people complaining that there were very few ‘real metalheads’ there and so many posers… please can someone enlighten me, what is a ‘real metalhead’ and why are people ‘posers’ if they decide they want to come and watch a band they may never have heard of/seen before because they think it might be fun/interesting/expand their horizons. Does that mean I was a poser when I went to my first metal concert? I say welcome everyone with open arms and show everyone that metalheads are the friendliest bunch of people!
Who cares how well the audience knows the band, what matters is they came, they saw and they fucking loved it \m/
Radio Metality UAE
Poor crowd = poor turn out – semantic argument. The crowd that did turn out was mosh-pitting and headbanging and singing along = awesome and the majority of people who came enjoyed it. We were a media partner not the organisers, so we are not trying to blame anyone, just pointing out the truth.
“They were not allowed to play Holy Wars”
—-I didn’t know that, thanks. That actually makes me feel better (even though I wonder is Holy Wars SO controversial in Dubai? Hardly. maybe in Israel? I don’t know)
“The production was pretty much the same as you can expect from most concerts here that are not pop/RnB (did you expect Dave to jump through a few costume changes and perhaps do a stint in a cheerleader dress with pompoms?)”
—-THAT would’ve been awesome.
“The background videos etc are the same they have been using for the entire tour.”
—-…and for the last twenty years it looks like
“The crowd was poor, there is no question about that and noone will deny that – even the organisers.”
—-I deny that. Low turn-out maybe, but don’t blame the crowd when the performance is mediocre. Or if you have to blame someone, how about blame promotion and advertising for the low numbers?
“The 50% off was given to us as an exclusive for our newsletter subscribers, we chose to run it publicly for 12 hours so that those who could not afford tickets might have a chance. It was then run just for our members. In future we shall make sure to only run deals for our subscribers if that would make you feel better?”
—-No comment. I mean I get it, the ticket sales were low so you dropped the price, it just sucks when you shelled out $100 and then price drops in half a few weeks later.
They were not allowed to play Holy Wars
The production was pretty much the same as you can expect from most concerts here that are not pop/RnB (did you expect Dave to jump through a few costume changes and perhaps do a stint in a cheerleader dress with pompoms?) The background videos etc are the same they have been using for the entire tour.
The crowd was poor, there is no question about that and noone will deny that – even the organisers.
The 50% off was given to us as an exclusive for our newsletter subscribers, we chose to run it publicly for 12 hours so that those who could not afford tickets might have a chance. It was then run just for our members. In future we shall make sure to only run deals for our subscribers if that would make you feel better?
Huh? Were you at the same show? That was a terrible show. I got there around 9:30 and the place is dead quiet. Why no music on to get the crowd going? Finally they put some tunes on and it was f***ing aerosmith, damn, cmon, and then even worse they played an Inxs song.. Really?? is that who they thought their audience was?
Then Megadeth came out with some decent punch but no really effort to make the crowd get excited. Some crappy old videos left over from the late eighties, zero production, and pretty much zero performance from the band. Then they end with the lamest “Thank You” in multiple languages graphic, my god. Then no encore, almost like they thought the crowd was to blame. And this site says too that, ‘the crowd was abysmal’ sh*t that’s terrible, I make all the effort to get there, the time, the money, and then when the show stinks it’s my fault, the crowd’s fault. That’s some BS right there.
And they never played Holy Wars.
And yes I agree the 50% promotion at the last minute was crap too.
i agree with Faraz Izhar’s analysis.
Metallica’s concert was a huge success, in terms of crowd as well as of quality.
i would like to add few points:
1/ tickets : you buy VIP thinking this is obviously the only way to get next to the stage.. think again!!
2/ VENUE: i came all the way from Abu Dhabi and i got lost many times.. (maybe my GPS is to blame as well but nevertheless)
3/ that last minute 50% discount was utterly unfair (at least from my view)
4/ cant say that the region lacks metalheads… i was there when metallica and GNR palyed in YAS..
Let me start by telling you that how much I enjoyed the gig! It was like dream; being right there in the front at the Rock Zone just a couple of feet away from a stage being put on fire by the Metal Gods we know as Megadeth. Mustaine and lads were definitely at one of their best; there was definitely some great interaction with the crowd as well!
On the “Number of Metalheads” in the region; I believe this is an aspect which more depends on the event organizers/venue/The event itself. Same thing happened in Deep Purple when they played in Gulf Bike Week a few years ago.
However if you look at the gigs held in the past at the Yas Arena; these have always managed to pull up some good numbers of Metalheads and Die-Hard rockers at the event. Guns N’ Roses was a big success; and Metallica even a bigger one – both in terms of the quality of concert and the number of audience. These were pretty much of stand-alone events at a concert arena of international standards and not sidelined as a part of any other event (In Megadeth or Deep Purple or Status Quo’s case the Gulf Bike Festival; and the small changing-with-the-year concert arenas).
And then obviously there’s the marketing/promotion of the event itself. You guys did a great job on your part and actually did your best at promoting the event. However; I really am not sure on how the GBW was promoted as a whole on the macro scale. Having witnessed the numbers in Metallica and GN’R; I refuse to believe that the region does not have the required number of Metalheads. I strongly believe that had this been an individual event, maybe away from the bike week (or even if it was a part of the bike week); had there been much more of marketing/promotions on a macro level and had there been an appropriate venue which actually calls for these kind of gigs; I’m pretty sure that the number game would’ve been quite different.
I mean; I know a couple of people, good friends and colleagues, who are not die-hard Megadeth fans but are folks who enjoy their rock n’ roll and love to attend these sort of gigs nonetheless. They mentioned to me that they would’ve loved to attend; afterall it’s Megadeth, one of the BIG 4; but the concert venue and the overall “setting” of the gig doesn’t appeal to them much. Almost all of them have attended the past GBW concerts so they kinda knew that what kind of setting the Megadeth gig is going to be. They actually mentioned that if the venue was appropriate; there was no stopping them from attending.
These were just my friends; about an odd 11-12 of them. I’m pretty sure that each metalhead in the region would be knowing at least 5-6 people who fall in the above category.
Putting the numbers together and doing the very rough run on stats – assuming 4000 metal heads – each knowing at least 5 people who would’ve attended but did not, maybe for of the venue or maybe for not hearing much about the event. Put the gig at a suitable venue with the required marketing/promotion and we get about 4000X5 – 20,000 headcounts; a straight 16,000 surge right away!
Anyway, I know that the metalhead scene in the region is going to improve; I’m pretty sure more of us would come to the forefront in the future gigs. Big kudos to all of Metality’s efforts for keeping the metal scene up and rockin’..
I do actually believe that Desert Rock is gonna make a comeback in the not so distant future.
\m/